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Medford man faces felony charge for allegedly pepper-spraying 10-year-old boy Friday Aug 19, 2016 at 11:01 AM Aug 19, 2016 at 5:12 PM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune MEDFORD — A west Medford man who allegedly pepper-sprayed a Jackson Elementary School student in May has been indicted on a felony charge of third-degree assault. William Roger Garner, 82, was indicted Aug. 4 and is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 1. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of assault and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a stun gun, tear gas or mace. Garner is accused of approaching a vehicle on May 24 in which Pheonix Scott, 10, and his mother, Randi Brock, were riding and spraying the boy in the face. Brock said she was driving down a narrow alley and gestured for Garner, who was driving the other direction, to go around her vehicle, allowing him to access his driveway. But Garner apparently misunderstood the meaning of her gesture and thought Brock was "flipping him off," Brock said. Garner, who repeatedly has declined to comment, initially was charged with second-degree unlawful use of mace and first-degree criminal mischief and was briefly lodged in the Jackson County Jail. Brock said Thursday she was relieved the charges were increased because of the suffering her son endured and the deliberate nature of Garner's alleged attack. The boy was treated at the scene and later at a hospital for burns and blistering around his eyes. While Brock said her son "bounced back" quickly, he now refuses to ride in her car with the window rolled down, and "is less trusting of people he doesn't know." Zori Cook, the prosecutor handling the case, declined to comment on the charges against Garner. Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].